Contemporary politics, local and international current affairs, science and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
Truth never damages a cause that is just ~ MAHATMA GANDHI

There was much fanfare around the Fair Work
Commission's (FWC) decision to extend rights around casual conversion to
nearly 90 more industries.

Unions hailed the ruling as a big win for casual staff who want more job security.
But
employer groups and an industrial relations experts doubt the decision
will lead to a seismic shift in the Australian labour market. Here's
why.

What changed with yesterday's decision

The right of
long-term casuals to convert to permanent employment isn't completely
novel — the same provision has been in most manufacturing awards for
years.
What Fair Work did was extend the same rights to all the
other awards — the documents that set down minimum employment standards
in most industries and form the basis on which most enterprise
agreements are negotiated.
What the decision means is that all casual workers now have the right to request permanent employment if they work regular hours over a full year.
It does not mean that they are entitled to be converted to a permanent position.

I'm a casual and want to become permanent, how do I do it?

First
of all, this is a draft ruling, and employer groups, unions and other
interested parties can still make submissions to the FWC before it makes
a final determination, so things could change.
So hold your horses, this isn't the law yet.
If it does come into effect in its current form, then employers will be required to inform casuals about their rights.
"All
casuals after 12 months will get a notice saying you could potentially
be entitled for consideration of permanent status," explained Professor
John Buchanan, an industrial relations expert from the University of
Sydney.
But not all casuals will be eligible.

"The
key criteria are you must have worked a standard pattern of hours on an
ongoing basis without major change over that 12-month period," he said.

In
other words, if you worked 9-5 Monday to Friday one week, but then just
did a couple of days the next with no regular pattern, you are
considered a genuine casual and not entitled to conversion.

But if you worked say every Thursday 5-9 and Sunday 10-4 you might be eligible to convert to permanent part-time.
If you are eligible then you need to approach your employer and ask them about being converted to permanent employment.
That can be daunting for employees, especially young staff who are casuals that are relatively easy to fire.
"However,
the current provisions of the Fair Work Act provide some protection
against employers treating them adversely for exercising a workplace
right, such as making a request under the clause," advised the Sydney
industrial law team at Slater and Gordon.
"If an employee is of
the view that they meet the criteria outlined above and would like to
request that they be made permanent, they should join their union!
"Their union representative will be able to assist them in approaching their employer."

But there's a catch … or four

The
unions originally called for the mandatory conversion of all casual
staff to permanent positions after six months' consistent work with a
single employer.
But, aside from the one-year time frame, Fair
Work also sided with business on making the conversion from casual to
permanent rather optional, at the discretion of the employer.

In fact, the Australian Industry Group (AI Group) hailed the ruling as a "significant win for employers".
"They've
retained the right, despite union claims, to refuse requests for staff
members to move from casual to permanent under reasonable circumstances,
given the conditions and circumstances of the business," AI Group chief
executive Innes Willox said.
As the Slater and Gordon lawyers explained, there are actually four grounds on which a request can be refused:

If it would require a significant adjustment to the casual employee's hours of work;

If it is known or reasonably foreseeable that the casual employee's position will cease to exist;

If the employee's hours of work will significantly change or be reduced within the next 12 months; and

On other reasonable grounds based on facts which are known or reasonably foreseeable.

Of particular concern to employees is reason number four, as Slater and Gordon's lawyers explain:

"The last ground is broad and could be used by employers to refuse the request on tenuous grounds."

The
net result for casuals is that your employer will have to tell you
after a year that you may be able to convert to a permanent position,
you can make a request if you work regular hours/shifts (like a
permanent staff member would) but your employer can pretty much just say
"no" if they don't agree.

Do I want to convert to permanent anyway?

Permanent
employment has some distinct benefits, such as regular hours, sick and
holiday leave entitlements and much greater job security.
For
example, employers do not necessarily need to fire a casual if they want
to shut them out, they can just slash the amount of shifts they are
rostered on for.
However, permanent employees do not receive
casual loading (which is paid as compensation for not getting leave) and
therefore can earn less than their casual counterparts.

So will it make a difference?

After
the decision, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) described
the ruling as a small step towards addressing an "epidemic of insecure
work" and the casualisation of the country's workforce.
But Professor Buchanan said it is unlikely to transform the nature of work in Australia.
"This
right has been around in the manufacturing sector since the early 2000s
and there has not been an exodus of casuals heading for permanent
status, so many workers haven't availed themselves of this right
anyway," he said.
Mr Willox agrees.
"We don't see that it
will have much impact at all — what it is, is an extension of a right
that is covered in many awards to cover virtually all people under
awards," he said.
"That's fair enough — that people can ask — but
the reality is in most cases, people don't want to convert from casual
to permanent because the casual nature of their work gives them the
flexibility that they want to study, to spend time with their family or
other things.
"They also receive a loading for working as a casual
and they would lose that earning and some of their flexibility rights
if they were to become permanent."

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About Me

I was inspired to start this when I discovered old editions of "The Worker". "The Worker" was first published in March 1890, it was the Journal of the Associated Workers of Queensland. It was a Political Newspaper for the Labour Movement. The first Editor was William "Billy" Lane who strongly supported the iconic Shearers' Strike in 1891. He planted the seed of New Unionism in Queensland with the motto “that men should organise for the good they can do and not the benefits they hope to obtain,” he also started a Socialist colony in Paraguay.
Because of the right-wing bias in some sections of the Australian media, I feel compelled to counter their negative and one-sided version of events.
The disgraceful conduct of the Murdoch owned Newspapers in the 2013 Federal Election towards the Labor Party shows how unrepresentative some of the Australian media has become.